Valentine’s Day, Lazy Susans, and Sliding Spice Racks – Thoughts from February 14, 2026

Patti and I exchanged gifts for Valentine’s Day, but I also continued my work on the kitchen. Patti has wanted me to change how the doors open on several of the cabinets. This involves drilling new holes on the opposite side of the cabinet and reattaching the door upside down. The tough part of the operation is drilling the holes in just the right spots and making sure the holes are the same size. If the holes are slightly off, it will remind me every time I open the doors. Twice during the kitchen rebuild, I messed up the measurements so badly that I had to start over what I was working on. This is not something I can rebuild. I measured everything three different ways and things turned out satisfactorily.

The next sections I was working on were on either side of the lazy Susan. One side needed to be prepared for a small top cabinet between the lazy Susan and the sink. Because it was a top cabinet, I had to build a base so it would be as tall as the lazy Susan. For now, I just needed to make sure there was room for it. I still had the old sink and cabinet in place, so I couldn’t really do more than see what needed to be done. My oscillating saw came in handy to clear the wood away from the sink cabinet as much as I could. I didn’t want to cut too much off and mess up the sink. We had a new sink to install into the new sink cabinet, but we needed to use the old sink for now.

The other side of the lazy Susan had a spice rack to install. This also required that I build a base because it was an upper cabinet. Attaching it to the lazy Susan would not be easy. The lazy Susan was round. Two places I could connect to was the wall and the front of the lazy Susan. The spice rack could only connect at the back and the bottom because you pulled it open from the front. Both sides did not allow any attachments. The whole thing slid out. Until I attached it, the whole thing fell over when you opened it. I could only show Patti how it could work. As usual, she knows I’ll figure it out, but not today.

I feel like the kitchen rebuild is a metaphor for how Patti sees our relationship. She tells me what she wants, and I see if I can make it happen. When I tell her I can’t do something, she rarely believes me. This would be fine if she thought I could accomplish anything, but sometimes she wants me to do things that are impossible. If I were a wizard, I could point my wand at things and accomplish the impossible. Patti’s finger is the wand. I’m the effects wizard tasked with bringing the magic to life. If something is not physically possible, that’s where I must step in and ruin the magic with reality.

Presenting reality to Patti is something I do regularly. Does Patti appreciate this? Of course not. It makes me the Debbie Downer of every subject. It’s not as if I’m all reality all the time. My imagination is plentiful and I enjoy fantasy stories, but I need to feel that the fantastical happenings are based in the story’s reality. Here in the real world, things need to be supported by an actual wall, another cabinet, or a base that I must build. Just a few years ago, I didn’t have the tools or the skills to use the tools. Slowly over time, I have developed my skills and number of tools, but I still must deal with time. The possibilities are endless. Time is not. There I go being a Debbie Downer again.